New Delhi: Union Minister V Muraleedharan lashed out at the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his 'double standards' in the Thiruvananthapuram airport privatisation issue.
'Private airports' already exist in Kannur and Calicut districts of the state and opposing the privatisation of only this airport exposes the CM's double standards, Muraleedharan said.
"He is ok to have private airports at Calicut and Kannur with a mere 32.5 per cent and 30.16 per cent stakes for the state, but oppose the Centre's move with a better share for GoI (Government of India)," the Union minister said on Twitter.
"Why deprive people of Thiruvananthapuram their right to better services at the airport?"
Development of the airport on the PPP model will be a game-changer, he said.
"It will bring efficiency in service delivery, expertise, enterprise and professionalism,which will lead to the overall development of the city," he stated.
Pinarayi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing the Union Cabinet's approval on Wednesday to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram airport to Adani Enterprises through public private partnership (PPP) for a period of 50 years.
In his letter, the Kerala chief minister has asked Modi to reconsider the decision as it would be "difficult" for the state to cooperate.
'Shocking' Congress opposition
The Union Minister also took to twitter to criticise the Congress' opposition to the airport's privatisation.
"The Congress party's competitive opposition to development in Kerala is shocking. They support UPA's PPP based development of Delhi & Mumbai airports, but oppose the same now? Aren't you part of Congress?" asked the minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs.
Mullappally Ramachandran, President of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, said the move to privatise the Thiruvananthapuram airport was "deplorable".
The airports in Delhi and Mumbai were privatised using the PPP model during the first term of the United Progressive Alliance in 2006.
Kerala govt did not qualify bidding process
The Kerala government did not qualify in Thiruvananthapuram airport's bidding process that was carried out in a transparent manner, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.
Talking about the airport's 2019 privatisation process on Twitter, Puri said, "Winning bid quoted Rs 168 per passenger, KSIDC (Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation) quoted Rs 135 per passenger and third qualifying bidder was at Rs 63 per passenger."
Per passenger fee was the criteria for the bidding process that was conducted in early 2019 for six airports - Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram. Adani Enterprises turned out to be the highest bidder for these six airports.
Before the bidding process, the Centre and the Kerala government had agreed that if the KSIDC's bid comes within the 10 per cent range of the winning bid, it would be awarded the airport, Puri said.
However, since the difference between Adani's bid and KSIDC's bid was 19.64 per cent during the bidding process, the former was qualified as the winner.
"Thus, despite special provision of RoFR (right of first refusal) being given to GoK (government of Kerala), they could not qualify in the international bidding process carried out in a transparent manner," Puri stated.
All-party-meeting
The Kerala government on Thursday called an all-party-meeting to discuss and protest against the Centre's decision to hand over of the management and operation of the Thiruvananthapuram airport to the Adani group.
"Thiruvananthapuram airport privatised to Adani rejecting the claim of Kerala govt, even after offer to match Adani's rate. PMO's promise to accept Kerala proposal broken. People of Kerala will not accept this act of brazen cronyism. #Airportprivatisation," State Finance Minister Dr Thomas Isaac tweeted on Thursday.
The Centre-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) owns and manages more than 100 airports, including the one in Kerala's capital city.
Adani Enterprises had won the rights to run six airports, including these three - the other three being Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangalore - through the PPP model after a competitive bidding process in February 2019.
In July 2019, the Union Cabinet had approved the proposal for leasing out Ahmedabad, Mangalore and Lucknow airports to Adani Enterprises.
(With PTI inputs.)